StarCraft: Frontline: Last Call
StarCraft: Frontline: Last Call is a short-story in Volume 3 of the StarCraft: Frontline graphic novel series. The story was originally conceived by Grace Randolph, though its plot was further refined through discussion with Blizzard's development staff.2009-09-08, Blizzplanet Live Chat with Tokyopop: Starcraft: Frontline Vol. 4. Blizzplanet, accessed on 2009-09-20 Description Although she's a lounge singer on the backwater mining post of Meteor Station, Starry Lace finds herself at the center of diplomatic intrigue. In brokering a new alliance between the Kel-Morians and the Dominion, the unlikely negotiator taps into skills of persuasion she never knew she had. But in this political chess game, is Starry a queen...or a pawn? Synopsis At Sour Moon, a bar in the Kel-Morian Combine town of Meteor Station, a Dominion mercenary lost his temper and beat a newly-arrived Kel-Morian diplomat named Ulrik until singer Starry Lace began singing, getting everyone's attention and stopping the fight. Afterward, Lace invited the official to her apartment in order to thank him and treat his injury. Prompted by a "voice in her head", she asked him questions about his occupation, but abruptly ended her questions and seduction attempt when he mentioned that zerg had been spotted in a nearby orbit. She showed him a scar on her face which she had gotten from the zerg, normally hidden by her hair, then threw him out. That night, Lace suffered from nightmares in which she and other people were being pursued by the zerg. She woke up beside her boyfriend Richard, a Dominion colonel. The "voice" told her to seduce Richard into getting information out of him. Richard relented and revealed his secret information: he had been sent to Meteor Station because the Kel-Morians had discovered a xel'naga artifact there, and he was supposed to buy it before it was sold on the black market. However, he was only authorized a certain amount of credits, and the Kel-Morians had set their price too high. Worse, Richard didn't know who his contact was, as the previous Kel-Morian negotiator had been replaced. As Richard left on a supply mission, the "voice" prompted Lace to track down Ulrik. She seduced him, ignoring the voice which wanted her to ask him numerous questions. She suffered more nightmares, in which the police rescued her from the zerg. The next morning, she asked Ulrik questions, learning that he was Richard's contact. Ulrik couldn't sell the artifact at a "fair" price because station officials wanted to skim the profits, and they wouldn't even tell him who the Dominion contact was, since they wanted to act as the middlemen. Lace said she knew this contact, but couldn't reveal who he was as the "voice" forbid it. She asked him to set up a meeting place. Lace sought out Richard and took him to the meeting place. The deal was made, although not without threats and misunderstandings, when the zerg arrived, also seeking the artifact. Both men were injured during the battle. Lace told Ulrik to start running... Lace suffered another nightmare, revealing the truth behind the "voice"—she was infected with a parasite by a queen, which had left the scar. The parasite could not be detected by terran medical scanners. Lace woke up in a hospital, plagued by the "voice" into asking whether Ulrik and Richard survived. Neither had, and the artifact had gone missing. It instructed her to claim she forgot what happened, and the doctors believed her. Lace went back to singing about loneliness now that Ulrik was dead. The "voice" continued to make suggestions. Characters *Starry Lace *Colonel Richard *Ulrik *Mysterious voice Notes *''Last Call'' takes place in 2503.April 6, 2010. "Timeline". StarCraft II: Heaven's Devils. Simon & Schuster (Pocket Star). pp. 311 - 323. ISBN 978-1416-55084-6. *Artwork from the comic depicts Second Great War queens in use before during the Fall of Tarsonis. This contradicts the website biography for queens which establishes that this strain of queen did not come into use until after the Brood War.Blizzard Entertainment staff. 2014-08-14. Units: Queen. Blizzard Entertainment. Accessed 2014-08-14. References Randolph, Grace (w), Seung-hui Kye (p, i). "Last Call." In StarCraft: Frontline: Volume 3 (paperback binding), pp. 90-131. Tokyopop, July 14, 2009. ISBN 978-1427-80832-5. Category:StarCraft: Frontline stories